High Road between Skye Lark and Bitter Sweet
March 14, 2006, 11:30 AM 

Yes it did! Mother nature shot a bullet at Killington; but Killington Lives!

Ok, so much for irrational exuberance. Now the facts.. The last 3 days have not been kind to ski resorts in the northeast. Killington, which has been blowing snow all winter, was hit hard, but it is a long way from being out.

Mary and I casually got to the mountain this morning around 10:00 AM. Temperatures were in the low 50's, with mid overcast and a 20 MPH wind. As the grass around the inn is now showing, we did not know what to expect. We took the K1 directly up to the peak. On the way up we got a good look at the Canyons and Cascade. Both looked quite skiable, with no ice or water bars showing, however, they were roped off and closed. Downdraft at the peak was also roped off and closed, but it looked good as well. Why these trails were closed is anybody's guess. East Fall was open. While we did not ski it, it looked in good shape with some small bumps on it.

We traversed across the mountain to Bear on Great Eastern. The traverse was very dicey because of high traffic (it is Canadian week up here eh!) There were a few spots where pond skimming for 10 feet was in order. Killington will need to blow a lot of snow on the cross over in the next couple of days.

When we arrived a Bear, we took Wild Fire. Sweet. Really good snow cover, nice soft little bumps, with a consistency somewhere between mashed potatoes and vanilla ice cream. A lot of fun. The terrain park on Lower Wild Fire was closed (from the Skye Peak lift it looked in tough shape) so we took lower Bear Claw. Again, nice soft little bumps with plenty of snow cover.

After Bear, we did a lap over on Cruise Control. Skier's left was in good shape (under the guns); skier's right had some thin spots as usually develop in the spring. Skye Lark top to bottom was in great shape. Super Star also survived quite well.

Thus far, the mountain has survived. Temperatures are going lower this afternoon with snow forecasted (from flurries to out an out snow) over the next 3 days. The resort has a lot of work ahead of it over the next couple of days to repair the damage from the warm weather, but conditions could have turned out much worse. I will hazard to guess, that ski conditions this coming weekend should turn out pretty good...with the caveat that you should sharpen your edges as the mountain will firm up when the temperature drops.

Rebuilding Bear Mountain Superpipe
March 13, 2006, 12:30 PM 

If you are in the ski business....ya gotta believe!!!

Like Tony Soprano, old man winter has wounded Killington these last couple of days, but the mountain has a lot of life left before the 2005-2006 ski season ends.

Needless to say, surface conditions today at Killington were wet. Primary slopes where the mountain has done a lot of snow making this season are holding up fairly well. Secondary slopes are another story. The weather forecasters, and when have they been right this winter, are implying that we have another 18 hours of so of this weather, before winter returns with snow showers on the back side of the storm.

Killington continues to get ready for the Sprint US Freestyle Championships scheduled for March 22 thru 26th. Workers were photographed today using 3 snow grooming machines roughing in the new Superpipe, which Killington filled with snow last week. When they rebuilt the pipe in the past, it has usually taken 3 to 4 days to complete the work, which would probably be the case this time as well.

Skye Peak to Killington Peak
March 12, 2006, 12:30 PM 

Guests at Killington this morning experienced soft, spring conditions under cloudy skies.

Early reports from friends indicate that the mountain started with a few firm spots in the valleys this morning, as temperatures in low areas dropped below freezing. Higher elevations appeared to have stayed soft, evidently due to a temperature inversion on the mountain. Snow surfaces were generally consistent, although surface damage is visible in areas with little snow making, for instance skiers right on Snow Shed. We plan to be out on the slopes several days this coming week to report directly on conditions.

Superstar starting to Bump Up!
March 11, 2006, 2:30 PM 

Spring made an appearance at Killington today. Yesterdays gloomy weather has given way to mild temperatures in the mid to high 40's with beautiful sunshine and a warm breeze.

Around town, much of the natural snow cover is melting. The large hill at the front of the inn is basically free from snow. The snow stake in the back of the inn is down to ground. The 5th green of the Killington Golf course looks like it is ready to begin play, although I am sure that the course is still a little wet.

On the mountain, operations were slow to start this morning as snow surfaces froze overnight. Killington sequentially opened lifts, as grooming machines were out in the morning preparing surfaces for the day. Inn guests are returning to the inn talking about nice spring conditions with medium sized crowds. Most are returning with the beginnings of a tan, although a few fair haired guests had the red glow of a sun burn. They all spoke of soft snow. The skiers in the group were praising conditions; the novices were feeling their legs after a good work out. Overall, it sounds like it was a good day on the hill.

It is your basic quiet day at Killington.

Temperatures have warmed up substantially since yesterday, approaching the mid 40's around the inn. Yesterdays light snow has given way to an intermittent drizzle. When you combine it with the temperatures, it is definitely wet outside. Visibly, the mountain looks like it is holding up well. Guests are returning to this inn with reports that the mountain was nice and soft. The only complaints were related to the drizzle, and poor visibility in spots caused by fog.

 

It is a very overcast and gloomy day at Killington, and I am not just talking about the weather. Although, on the weather front, we have been experiencing snow showers all morning. It is not accumulating much, yet at least it is white.

On the doom and gloom front, it was reported today by various news sources that Killington Taxpayers will be put in the Education Tax "Penalty Box" as a result of the vote taken on the special article to raise $225,000 for athletic fields for the Woodstock Union High School. The article was defeated in 4 of the 6 towns that make up the Woodstock Union, but in the other 2 towns, Woodstock and Barnard, enough votes were cast to pass the article by a total of 33 votes across the 6 towns. Because of the assessment, 2 towns, Killington and Reading, will be put into the Vermont's Education Penalty, as per pupil expenses will exceed $11,728 per "equalized pupil". What this means to homestead (ie Resident) taxpayers in Reading and Killington is that they must raise extra money for the state education fund equivalent to an extra dollar per equalized pupil for every dollar above the $11,728 threshold.

From a Killington perspective, Resident Taxes for education are projected to increase by by an additional 7.3 cents to $2.177. Last year, the education tax rate was $1.726. This years resident tax increase for education is 26.13%. Killington town officials are looking at various options to see if anything can be done to mitigate this additional tax increase.

---------- Update -------------
Since I originally posted this entry, I have received an email from Selectman Norm Holcomb of Killington. An effort is currently underway to get the Woodstock Union High School Special Article reconsidered, in light of the fact that if it stands, Killington and Reading will be forced to pay penalty education taxes to the state of Vermont. A petition for reconsideration is being circulated. 307 registered voters in the Woodstock Union District must sign the petition to get the article reconsidered. It is felt that if an adequate number of voters were informed about the article, and the funding for the Woodstock Union, that it would fail in a re-vote. (If you remember from my posting of 3/7, the school board head and the superintendent of the Woodstock Union could not properly explain the allocation of taxes for Killington to pay for the high school. It appears, that a similar discussion with non-information occurred at other town meetings in the district.)

A copy of the petition for reconsideration is available for signatures at the Sherburne Memorial Library on River Road. The petition is available to be signed at the Library during operating hours. If you are a registered voter in Killington, or another town in the Woodstock Union, you should consider signing this petition. The library is open each afternoon, Monday thru Friday, from 1:00 PM to 5:30 PM. The Library is also opened on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings starting at 10:00 AM. The library is also open Wednesday evening until 8:00 PM, and Saturday Morning from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM.
---------- End Update -------------

Ramp/Jump on Outer Limits
March 8, 2006 

And now to get back to skiing!

After yesterdays adventure in civic responsibility, this morning was time to ski. And a beautiful ski day it was. Conditions were a tad cooler than Monday, with some high overcast dimming the sun, but the mountain was groomed very nice.

We started out the day with 2 quick laps on Superstar. I am not sure how the groomers did it, but the snow on Superstar was soft and quiet. Great for carving big, wide turns. We then pushed over to Bear Mountain. One of our group, a "Florida" resident who did not attend town meeting on Tuesday, told us that Upper Wild Fire was groomed great. Oops... That was yesterday. Today, while Upper Wild Fire was flat, it was also slicker than s@#t, if you get what I mean. However, when we got to the bottom, we were presented with Outer Limits in all it's glory.

O.L. has not been open for the past couple of days so the resort could continue working on a large ramp and jump at the bottom. That area was blocked off today, and the rest of O.L. was groomed soft and sweet. I took a picture of the ramp from the entrance to it. You can't really get a sense of how big it is, until you look at it from the side. The second picture shows a side view with a skier coming down beside it. It is huge.

In addition to the ramp on O.L., Killington blew snow last night on Bear Claw. Clearly they are trying to make sure that there is a good base for the Freestyle competition at the end of the month. Also over a Bear, the resort had dozens of guns blowing snow into the Superpipe on Lower Dream Maker. It looked like they were filling the Superpipe with snow so they could re-carve it later. We heard that the walls of the pipe were getting a little icey and out of alignment. Hence the need for a major rebuild.

A few quick turns on Skye Burst, and Cruise Control, then I needed to punch out down Skye Lark to attend to some business at the inn. All in all, a very nice couple of hours out on the mountain.